Posts Categorized: Drinks

A Transition Cocktail for September

Here in New York, we’ve had a stretch of amazing weather. Comfortably warm during the day, chilly at night. Think jeans and fleeces, but still Birkenstocks, which let us hold on to summer for just a tiny bit longer. I feel like this drink is the cocktail version of that outfit — I’m not quite ready for a Manhattan, the… Read more »

Yuzu Gin & Tonics

I don’t know if it’s laziness or contentment, but it really takes a lot for me to switch up the routine these days. It’s tomato season, for instance, and every time I come home with a mini haul, I imagine grand plans for tarts and pies for dinner, but just wind up slathering mayo on good white toast, topping them… Read more »

New Favorite Cocktail

Quick tip: When someone invites you to dinner, maybe even Thanksgiving dinner, instead of offering to bring the wine, volunteer to bring a specialty cocktail. Preferably a cocktail that forces you out of your Manhattan-and-Gin-and-Tonic cocktail rut. If it’s this time of year, the cold time of year, preferably one that is brown. Preferably one that requires you to hunt… Read more »

As You Sow, So Shall You Weep

. I was so happy when Short Stack Editions reached out to me a few weeks ago to see if I wanted to check out their latest volume, Cucumbers. For starters, their single-ingredient, expertly-designed booklets never fail to deliver on the recipe MVP front. (I’m guessing there are a good number of people reading this who have made Pasta Con Ceci — pulled… Read more »

A Drinking Lover’s Guide to Temperance

This might come as a surprise to you — whatwith all those love letters we’ve written to our Gin & Tonics, Dark & Stormies and Manhattans, not to mention an entire section titled “Medicine” in my first book  — but we in the DALS house, as of about two years ago, are no longer cocktail-every-night folks. This does not mean… Read more »

Tis the Celebration Season

As most of you know, the heart of my book, How to Celebrate Everything, is as much about savoring the smaller moments, about infusing meaning into the everyday, about taking a step back to make sure we’re all asking ourselves: Are we living intentionally or just racing to the finish line every single day? What I would also like to… Read more »

Small-Batch, Big-Hit Gifts for Dad

Those of you who follow me on instagram have already been reminded, but wanted to make the rest of you aware of the fact that DALS readers get 15% off at Mouth this week. Mouth, purveyor of independent, artisanal foods, has been a longtime partner of Dinner: A Love Story, and if you want to know why that is the… Read more »

Gin & Tonics: The DALS Way

Last Friday, Andy returned home from work, loosened his tie a bit, and staggered into the kitchen. It had been a long week for him and if I couldn’t tell by the look of exhaustion on his face when he’d left that morning, I could tell by the wine and martini emojis he was texting me from the train all… Read more »

Anatomy of a Lazybones Summer Dinner

Who: The Usual Suspects, Andy, Jenny, Phoebe, Abby What: Family Dinner When: A Saturday night in early summer Where: DALS headquarters, Suburban New York Temp: High 80s, high humidity Obstacles/Activities/Extracurriculars: N/A, see: SUMMER 10:00 AM Walk to Farmer’s Market, procure Tuscan kale, baby cabbage, and a pound of Mahi Mahi from the fish guy. (And a dozen cider doughnuts, half of… Read more »

A Nice Problem

. I live in the suburbs — land of the two-car garage, of strip malls, and of people walking around saying things like “Here take this bushel of cucumbers! They are overtaking my backyard and I don’t know what to do with them!” (This kind of complaint, of course, is filed right alongside the one about that Spicy Shrimp dish… Read more »

I Was a Soda Jerk

. We are honored to present a very special guest poster today on DALS — my dad, Steve Ward. As I have noted here before, my dad did not have the deepest (and that’s putting it kindly) repertoire when it came to dinner, but man, could he do a good, no-bake dessert. Sundaes (topped with crushed, roasted peanuts), ice cream… Read more »

What Your Drink Says About You

During the day, you’re a minivan-driving, soccer game-refereeing, steak pre-cutting, hair-detangling, Wiggles-listening, Wubzy-watching, spit-up-wearing, school lunch-preparing, diaper genie-cursing, mac-and-cheese-making shell of your former self. After the kids go to bed, though, when it’s time to relax on the couch with a box of Mallomars, and watch some 30 Rock on DVR…who are you, exactly? Sometimes it’s hard to remember. Herewith,… Read more »

Jake

I have a good friend named Joel. Joel has a father named Jake. (Joel also has a mother, a sister, and two brothers whose names, I swear, all begin with “J”*. But that’s another story for another day.) Jake lives Upstate. I’ve never actually met Jake, though meeting him, at this point, is a mere technicality. And that’s because Jake… Read more »

I’m Thirsty!

Sometimes it feels like all I accomplish in a single day is quenching my childrens’ thirst. Is it like this in your house? Is it a national emergency when you forget a freshly filled Sigg bottle for the hour-long road trip? Do you find yourself filling and refilling sippy cups and drinking glasses and thermoses all day long to the… Read more »

The 1080

I’ve made it clear how much I love my 6:00 cocktail. But since most of you have only known me for six months or so, I’m not sure I’ve made it clear enough how much I love my summer vacation cocktail. It’s been tempting to relax the 6:00 rule on the Dark & Stormy since I’ve been relaxing the rules… Read more »

The Blame Game

Dear Andy, You know how grateful I am for all you do for the family. How grateful I am for your mastery of the grill, for your patience and stamina at playtime (how did I miss both of those qualities on Parenting Skills Hand-out Day?), for your unfailingly impeccable musical taste. (I fully recognize that if it weren’t for you,… Read more »

The Morning Routine

Every morning for pretty much the last ten years, I’ve made a smoothie for breakfast. I first started making them because they seemed like a relatively painless way to get my daily allowance of fruit — fruit which, for whatever reason, I never seemed to get around to eating. But then I started to notice (imagine?) something: they made me… Read more »